Package and method



Feb. 3, 1970 A. E. GALLI 3,493,106

PACKAGE AND METHOD Filed Feb. J, 1968 3 SheetsmSheet l 23 25 27 25 24 FIG.I F|G.2

I I 72 Inmnfor Alfred E. Gal/i y 7? r MM [9 Attorney 74 FIG. 7

33 1970 7 A. E. GALLI 3,493,106

' PACKAGE AND METHOD 3 Sheets-Sheet Filed Feb. less FIG. 8b

FIG. 80

FIG. IO

Inventor Attorney Alfred E. Gal/i By yum-m 29.11%

Feb. 3, 1970 Q A. E GALLl 3,493,106

PACKAGE AND METHOD Filed Feb. 5, 1968 s SheetS She-et s FIG. ll

FIG. l2

Inventor Alfred E. Galli Attorney United States Patent G US. Cl. 206-65 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A generally rectangular package comprising a receptacle having at least three sides, said receptacle and product being enclosed by shrunken packaging film thereby increasing the strength of the package. The package can be prepared by placing product on a prescored receptacle blank, said product being divided and arranged so that when said blank is folded the product will be in its proper position, folding said blank, overwrapping said product and folded blank with heat shrinkable film to form a tube with portions of the film extending beyond the opposed ends of said receptacle blank, and then passing said package through a heating tunnel whereby the film is shrunk around said package.

This invention relates to packages and the method of preparing same. In particular, the invention relates to packages made of a combination of rigid and flexible packaging materials.

Food products such as cocoa in tins, cakes, rolls, bread, TV dinners, etc., are generally shipped in twelve or twenty-four unit cases. The most common case package is the ordinary cardboard box which is constructed of corrugated paperboard. These boxes have the disadvantage that the contents cannot be seen and it is difficult to quickly determine the size, shape, and nature of the contents. Labels cannot convey the same accurate knowledge of the contents that visual inspection can. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a package for wrapping products in case lots so that the contents of the package can be readily observed.

The height to which packaged goods can be stacked for storage or for display is dependent upon the weight and strength of the package. Therefore, it is a further object of the present invention to produce a lighter and stronger package for case lot goods.

In many instances, consumers do not wish to purchase a whole case lot of goods and a half-case or onethird case is desired. Therefore, it is another object of the present invention to provide a package which can easily be divided into fractions of its contents.

These and other objects are accomplished by the novel package of the present invention. This package comprises a rigid receptacle which forms at least three sides of the package. The product is thus enclosed on three sides by the receptacle. The product and receptacle are in turn enclosed in shrinkable packaging film. The film is then shrunk tightly about the product and receptacle and a package having increased strength results. The invention may be better understood by reference to the following detailed description and drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention with the products divided into thirds;

FIGURE 2 shows the configuration of FIGURE 1 with an additional support member included;

FIGURE 3 shows a package according to the present invention in which the product is divisible into halves;

3 ,493,106 Patented Feb. 3, 1970 FIGURE 4 shows the package of FIGURE 3 with one of the supporting walls removed;

FIGURE 5 is a package similar to the embodiments shown in FIGURE 3 except that the package is divisible into a two-thirds portion and a one-thirdv portion;

FIGURE 6 shows a package according to the present invention in which no provision is made for additional supporting walls or for division of the package into fractions;

FIGURE 7 shows the package of FIGURE 6 with the top side deleted;

FIGURE 8a shows a package like that of FIGURE 2 being divided into fractional parts;

FIGURE 8b shows the severed fractional part of the package of FIGURE 8a;

FIGURE 9 shows a receptacle and product wrapped in film prior to shrinking the film;

FIGURE 10 illustrates a method of placing product on a prescored receptacle blank prior to forming the blank;

FIGURE 11 shows a package according to the present invention in which the shrunken film completely encloses the receptacle and product; and,

FIGURE 12 shows a package in which the openings in the film are adjacent to an open side of the receptacle.

The geometric shape of the packages shown in the drawings is that of a rectangular parallelepiped. However, the invention includes packages having the geometric shape of a cube or a parallelepiped. When used herein the term rectangular includes these geometric shapes. Also included in the term rectangular are packages composed of two or more adjacent but different sized rectangular parallelepipeds or of a parallelepiped and a cube.

The term flexible wrapping material as used herein generally denotes a shrinkable packaging film. Heat shrinkable films are the most common shrinkable films but the invention includes solvent shrinkable films. The invention is not limited to a particular film or method of shrinking film. Cross-linked and oriented polyethylene and polypropylene are among the better known heat shrinkable films. Also included would be heat shrinkable films of rubber hydrochloride, polyvinyl chloride, and polyvinylidene chloride. Thus, as used herein, the term heat shrinkable includes films which will shrink upon the application of heat; and, the term oriented includes both uniaxially and biaxially oriented film.

The rigid packaging materials from which the receptacles of the present invention are made include pressed paperboard, corrugated paperboard, and generally any board-like material made from paper or its derivatives. Also included are rigid materials made from rubber bases and from organic synthetic plastics.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, an embodiment of the invention is shown in which the receptacle 10 is preferably made from corrugated paperboard. The receptacle 10 is formed from one piece of corrugated board which has been pre-scored and folded. Receptacle 10 comprises a base portion 13, outer vertical walls 14-, horizontal top walls 16, and interior vertical walls 15. The result is that product 17 is completely enclosed by the receptacle 10 except for the two open sides. Product 18 is not closed by a top wall. A heat shrinkable thermoplastic film tubular in shape encloses the products 17 and 18 and the receptacle 10 completely except for the opening 12. At the opposed end of the package is a similar opening 12 which is not shown.

In FIGURE 2 a package similar to that shown in FIG- URE 1 is illustrated. Receptacle 20 comprises base 23,

outer vertical walls 24, top walls 26, and interior vertical walls 25. In addition, a member having the shape of an inverted U covers the middle third of the products 28. This inverted U-shaped member comprises vertical walls 27 and top 29. Shrinkable film 21 encloses the whole package except for the openings 22. This package, like that shown in FIGURE 1, may be divided into thirds by taking a knife and piercing the film between vertical walls 25 and 27. Using the space between walls 25 and 27 as a guide the knife can be brought completely around and under the package thus servering the base 23. This procedure is illustrated in FIGURE 8a where knife 80 can be seen partially inserted into the space between vertical walls 27 and 25. FIGURE 8b shows the severed one-third of the package. The film 21 will generally cling to the severed package keeping it intact. This feature of being able to divide a case lot of goods into thirds is especially useful for small grocers or restaurants which would not normally need more than four or eight packages of rolls, cakes, etc., at each delivery.

FIGURE 3 shows a package which is similar to that of FIGURES 1 and 2 except that it is divisible into halves. The receptacle 30 comprises base 33, outer vertical walls 34, horizontal top walls 36, and interior vertical walls 35. Product 38 is equally divided between the two enclosed volumes defined by the base 33 and the walls 34, 35 and 36. An opening 32 is left in the film 31. FIGURE 4 shows a package similar to that shown in FIGURE 3 except that only one interior vertical wall is provided. In FIGURE 5 the receptacle has been folded so that one top wall section 56 will be twice as long as the other section. This permits two-thirds of the product 58 to be retained in a package while one-third is detached.

The heat shrinkable film which encloses the product and receptacle can be a seamless tube into which the receptacle and product have been inserted so that a portion of the tubular film overhangs each end of the package. The tube can also be formed by wrapping the receptacle and prodnot with a sheet of film and then heat sealing of the film ends together. Once the package has been prepared with the loose film ends 90 overhanging the end of the package as shown in FIGURE 9, the film is ready for the heat shrinking process. The overhanging film on the ends is heated first so that it will shrink tightly against the exterior walls of the receptacle before the remaining part of the film is shrunk tightly against the remainder of the receptacle and the product. The method of preferentially shrinking tubular film to so enclose a product is taught by R. L. Dreyfus in US. Patent No. 3,215,266 issued Nov. 2, 1965. If the receptacle and product are completely sealed and closed then preferential shrinking is unnecessary. Also if a film shrinkable by other means is employed then the necessity of heating is eliminated. A solvent shrinkable film would eliminate the necesstiy of heating, for instance.

The packages described above which have been prepared according to the present invention have superior compressive strength than corrugated paperboard boxes having higher test strength walls. Tests were carried out according to A.S.T.M. procedure D642-47 on packages having the configuration shown in FIGURES 3 and 4. These results are shown in Tables 1 and 2 below. In Table 1 the product was 24 one-half pound tins of cocoa arranged in a single layer so that all 24 tins rested on the base of the receptacle. In Table 2 the product was 24 one pound tins of cocoa arranged in two layers of 12 tins each. Thus, 12 tins rested directly on the base of the receptacle and on these 12 tins another 12 were placed. In each table the conventional cardboard box had walls of 175 pound-test corrugated paperboard. The receptacles for the packages according to the present invention were made from 125 pound-test corrugated paperboard. The film was irradiated, biaxially oriented polyethylene film having a thickness of approximately 1.5 mils.

4 TABLE 1 Sample: Load at failure (lbs.) (1) Conventional box 3,750 (2) FIGURE 4 configuration 4,380 (3) FIGURE 3 configuration 4,800

TABLE 2 Sample: Load at failure (lbs.) (1) Conventional box s 2,590 (2) FIGURE 4 configuration 2,730 (3) FIGURE 3 configuration 2,870

The strength superiority of the packages according to the present invention is clearly demonstrated by the foregoing test results. The added strength which is a result of the additional vertical interior wall in the FIGURE 3 configuration appears in the results. The reason packages according to the present invention are stronger than conventional boxes of heavier walls seems to be that the tightly fitting shrunken film holds the vertical walls secure ly against the product and prevents lateral movement of the walls. Thus, the walls cannot readily buckle as they are restrained on one side by the shrunken film and on the other side by the product.

The configurations in FIGURES 1, 2 and 5 are essentially repitions of the FIGURE 3 and FIGURE 4 configurations. The same increase in strength is realizable with these configurations. If additional strength is desired vertical panels can be added at either the ends of the package or in the center. For instance, in FIGURE 3 vertical wall inserts could be placed immediately inside of walls 34 to act as additional supports. In this manner, very strong packages can be made so that packages may be stacked well above the ordinary height.

FIGURES 6 and 7 show two more embodiments of the present invention. FIGURE 6 has a receptacle 60 comprising base 63, vertical outer Walls 64, and horizontal top 66. This receptacle encloses product 68. Film 61 encloses the product and the receptacle. In FIGURE 7 receptacle 70 comprises base 73 and outer vertical walls 74. Product 78 is carried by the receptacle 70 and both the product and the receptacle are enclosed by heat shrinkable film 71. In both the configurations of FIGURE 6 and FIGURE 7 additional compressive strength can be obtained as outlined above by the addition of vertical wall inserts.

In FIGURE 10 a method of assembling a package in the configuration shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 is illustrated. This method can also be modified to assemble the packages shown in the other figures. FIGURE 10 shows the pack-age in the process of being assembled. The package begins with a flat pre-scored blank receptacle 10. The score lines are at positions 101, 102, 103, 104, and 106. The receptacle is first bent at right angles at score lines 102 and 105. Product 18 is placed in the center and then products 17 are placed on their sides so that the top of the product coincides with score lines 102 and 104 respectively and the bottom of the product 17 coincides with score lines 103 and 104. The receptacle 10 is then again bent at score line 106 and 101 thus forming vertical walls 15. An additional right angle bending at score lines 103 and 104 places product 17 in upright position so that the receptacle 10 and products 17 and 18 assume the position as shown in FIGURE 1. Once the receptacle has been folded into the position as shown in FIGURE 1, the film can then be wrapped around it with the ends overhanging as shown in FIGURE 9 or an addition-a1 U- shaped member can be placed over product 18 before wrapping with the film and the package then assumes the configuration of FIGURE 2. The package can then be overwrapped with shrink-able film or the package can be inserted into a pre-formed tube. The film-wrapped package is then sent to a heating tunnel where the ends are first shrunk tightly against the end vertical walls and then the remainder of the film is shrunk against the receptacle and product as taught by the above mentioned Dreyfus patent. If the shrinkable film has been sealed to completely enclose the receptacle and product then there would be no need for preferentially shrinking the film. An advantage of leaving the ends open is that the steps of sealing the ends closed and trimming oil excess film is eliminated.

The receptacle member described above is of one piece construction and this is desirable for forming the package according to the method. However, the package can be formed by other methods and the receptacle can be formed from several pieces. As previously mentioned, additional vertical wall inserts can be employed.

FIGURE 11 shows a package completely sealed and enclosed by shrunken film. Product 118 has been arranged in a receptacle having base 113, outer vertical walls 114 and inner vertical walls 115. Shrunken film 111 tightly encloses the receptacle and product and is closed by seal 112.

FIGURE 12 shows the package with the end opening 122 in the sides of the package which are not covered by the vertical walls of the receptacle. The shrunken film 121 encloses the product 128 and the receptacle having vertical walls 124 and 125 and base 123.

Many other modifications and variations on the abovedescribed invention will be possible by those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A package comprising:

(a) a product divisible into simple fractions;

(b) a first receptacle comprising a base, two exterior vertical walls, two top walls, and two interior vertical walls thus forming two compartments with space between said interior walls for a plurality of compartments to be formed;

(c) a plurality of U-shaped receptacles, each receptacle having two vertical walls and one top wall, said second receptacle being disposed in the space between the two interior walls of said first receptacle, the plurality of compartments thus defined receiving said divisible product; and,

(d) a tubular shrinkable film member enclosing said product, said first and said second receptacles, said 6 film being tightly shrunk against said receptacles whereby lateral movement of said vertical walls is restrained.

2. A package comprising:

(a) product divisible into simple fractions;

(b) a receptacle comprising a base, two vertical exterior walls, two horizontal top walls, and two adjacent vertical interior walls, said base and walls forming two compartments with product in each compartment; and,

(c) a tubular film-like member of shrinkable material enclosing said product and receptacle and being shrunk tightly thereagainst whereby lateral movement of said vertical walls is restrained.

3. The package of claim 2 wherein said base and walls of the receptacle form two compartments of equal size, each compartment having one-half of the product therein.

4. The pack-age of claim 2 including a second receptacle member, said second member being inverted U- shaped and being disposed between said two formerly adjacent vertical walls forming a third product containing compartment.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,448,435 3/1923 Davis 20645.11 1,551,139 8/1925 Dietsche 206-45.14 2,200,867 5/1940 Weltmer 20645.33 2,604,983 7/1952 Moore 206-45.33 2,874,869 2/1959 Hennessey. 3,039,667 6/ 1962 Kozlik. 3,071,244 1/1963 Doran 206-45.31 3,338,404 8/1967 Becker et al. 3,403,838 10/1968 Van Dyke 206-4533 3,425,544 2/1969 Ayer et al.

FOREIGN PATENTS 709,309 5/ 1954 Great Britain.

WILLIAM T. DIXSON, 1a., Primary Examiner US. 01. X11, 2 6-4533 2 1 

